Younger voters drove historic wins on election night
Younger voters drove historic wins on election night
Politics Nov 8, 2017 5:25 PM EST
Driven by high Democratic turnout, Tuesday was an election of historic “firsts,” as voters across the country elected several openly transgender or gay people, as well as other barrier-breaking candidates, to local and state offices.
Democrats of all ages and backgrounds went to the polls, motivated in large part by the election of President Donald Trump. But it was the turnout of one group in particular — younger voters — that may have helped propel candidates like Danica Roem in Virginia, who became the first transgender person in the United States to win a state legislative seat.
LGBTQ advocates cautioned that it was difficult to read into voters’ motivations in backing Roem and other Democrats, like Andrea Jenkins in Minneapolis, the first African American transgender woman to win a race for a major city council seat.
But several said it was likely not a coincidence that enthusiasm seemed up among younger Democrats in an election that reflected a shift in attitudes about gay and transgender people in power.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/younger-voters-drove-historic-wins-on-election-night
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